


A Shadow Rises - Part II

by MeganOfSaints



Series: A Shadow Rises [2]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Cabal, Cayde is just trying to be a good dad and protect his vanguard, Childbirth, F/M, Fallen, Flashbacks, Memories, Newborn Children, Past Lives, Past Relationship(s), Past Torture, Past Violence, Recovered Memories, Sex, Slaves, War, calus is a fucking asshole and not to be trusted, calus is vile, talk of past lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:27:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23440927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganOfSaints/pseuds/MeganOfSaints
Summary: Memories come to light from a time before she was a Guardian before she was worried about what shaders made her look better and what her next mission was. In a time before the red war, she was a mother and a friend to a group of roving fighters and travelers. Without her vanguard backing her, she may never be able to find what she had lost.
Relationships: Calus/Guardian (Destiny), Cayde-6 (Destiny)/Original Character(s), Cayde-6 (Destiny)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: A Shadow Rises [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652779
Kudos: 5





	A Shadow Rises - Part II

**A SHADOW RISES**

**Part - II**

Chapter 2:

_It was two months later that Feyea found she was with child. Silna was happy for them and so were Melri and Sori, who had both been trying for a child for some time now. The swell of her stomach was not grand and Silna seemed mildly intrigued at the rate the child was growing inside of her. Feyea desperately wished, during the nights when Pelor’s gentle breathing lay next to her, that her own mother could have been the one to tell her what to do._

_Between hiking mountains and scaling over rivers and dangerous roads, long cracked and retaken by mother earth, they talked about names for the child. They spoke of a safe and warm hearth for their child to sleep next to in the Great City of Light. Pelor was protective of her in this state and every day, she was not able to travel as far due to the toll it took on her body. They did not chastise her and they did not spurn her for slowing them in their journey. Melri helped her sit at the end of the day and find a comfortable seat while removing her clothes to let the child stretch. Most days she wore a binder across her abdomen to aid with the burden of her belly._

_Some nights Pelor took her to bed down under a gathering of pine trees and made love to her and their child in the soft moonlight of the forest._

_Other nights, Silna and Sori became storytellers and spoke of ancient beings that laid waste to the stars before the Great Light ever came to earth. They spoke of darkness that chased the Great Light across the stars to wage war with it wherever it went._

_The closer they got to the city, the more treacherous their journey became. Fallen and cabal scoured the landscape with ether and smoke, billowing black clouds that blocked Feyea’s beautiful view of the stars where she found her self looking to in times of stress and exhaustion. In a terrible firefight, Pelor was wounded and unable to walk for a short time, extending their trip to the Great City._

_The last ten miles to the Great City, they could see the glittered lights of the people and massive tower looming above all those lights. Even better, the giant sphere in the sky seemed to call out to Feyea in the night the closer they got. It sent her images of rifles and flames licking and burning up her body, not to harm her, but to make her powerful. Silna disregarded her visions as just strange dreams that women receive when they are with child._

_In the night, they were laid waste to by a team of Cabal Legionnaires and Val, who seemed to also be heading to the Great City. Their thundering footsteps crashed through the rocks and the underbrush of the forest they traveled through and they slew Melri and Sori in their sleep. Thannea’s sorrowful screams rent the air with sobs of grief, the Val took his aim at Feyea who was immediately thrown to the ground by Pelor and covered for her protection and the protection of their child. The Val took no heed of why Pelor threw himself at her and unloaded a blast of five slugs into his back. Pelor slumped over on top of her, his weight crushing her lungs. She gasped as she felt tears prick her eyes. Her chest became unbearably tight and her scream of torment crackled in the air around them, sending small pine scones scattering around her from the sheer energy of her voice. Feyea’s sobs were not the only ones she heard. Silna had seen her son sacrifice himself for her and their unborn child. And he paid the ultimate price for it._

_In a rage, Silna took a fun from one of the fallen Legionnaires and attempted to take out the Val but fell at the last moment, her dying breath telling her that she needed to run. Feyea looked out into the trees, darkness expanding just beyond them as the light of dawn was just starting to peek over the horizon._

_Silna’s last words to her rung in her ears as she scrambled to find her footing._

“Protect your child like I couldn’t protect mine.”

_Feyea hiccupped as she sobbed, scrambling for purchase against the icy ground, not yet thawed by the midday sun. Her chest was heaving as she desperately tried to pull air into her lungs, her chest and lungs burned for oxygen that it could not pull from her surroundings. She felt lightheaded and faint, stars appearing at the edge of her vision as she saw another band of cabal troops. She skidded to a halt, nearly falling once more. She gripped a tree and held her belly as if the bones of her forearm would protect their child._

_But the Cabal did not slaughter her next. They seemed to take an interest in her. They spoke in a strange tongue, but one she could understand. They said she looked different than the others and that their Emperor would find a great liking in her potential. Confused and beaten and grieving, she struggled against them as they bound her hands and legs. She screamed, looking up to the sky, at the Great Sphere which promised her so much. How could it do this to her?_

_They tossed her unceremoniously into their containment unit which seemed to be empty of the war beasts that they usually carried. For that, she was grateful._

_The Spire of Stars is where they brought her before a hulking mass covered in gold and jewels as large as herself. She cowered on the floor at his feet, huddling over herself on her knees to protect her child._

_“Small, delicate flower. I see you have come a great way from the Awoken realm. You are stunning in your strength.” She looked up to the booming voice that loomed over her. “I can offer you a wealth of knowledge, power, riches, and even fame amongst my peers. All I ask is that you are mine to command. Obedience is what I require of you and I will give you the stars.”_

_She didn’t know why he offered her this. The Emperor was a towering individual who terrified her small frame. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed a line of small humans bound around their throats with collars of gold. Would she have to wear one? Their eyes were cast to the floor and they seemed like statues, not even giving a glimpse if they were alive or not. One looked up to her, breaking their worshipful formation. Their golden eyes were gleaming in the harsh lights of the palace hall. Feyea recoiled with fear as she knew their eyes had been replaced._

_Why was he offering her solace in a place so horrible? She was no one. She didn’t matter. He told her there was a dark place aboard his ship, a place she had never been to. The Menagerie awaited her if she so chose it. As she peered up at him, confused at the words of promise, the Emperor glimpsed her full form for the first time. And his eyes widened in shock at the look of her swollen belly._

_He cried, “She is with child! Do not worry for I will protect you and yours. If you help me preserve me and mine.”_

_She glimpsed over to the bound and disfigured human in the corner, who was now being beaten with a stick, their hands thrown up above their head to attempt to save themselves. Feyea winced as she heard a sharp smack of a stick and a whimper of pain._

_She felt she had no choice but to accept his offer. She could not protect her child if she was dead. On one condition she spoke._

_The Emperor’s ears pricked at her voice for the first time and the power that is contained within it. He grinned down at her, ready for her following words._

_“You will not collar me. And you will not modify me.”_

_He snarled at her, “Deal.”_

::: ::: :::

_Twelve months later, as the awoken grow and age differently in the womb, Feyea fell to the ground in agony in her only cell. It was cast iron metal box meant to house her until she was trained and no longer pregnant. The harsh metal walls and dark showers were no place for the birth of a child. She screamed for hours, her voice hoarse from use and from crying. Her lungs burned and her legs ached from standing for so long. It wasn’t until the following morning when another’s cries joined hers. She wrapped her son in the only blanket she had, shivering barely clothed and soaked in sweat as she huddled against the cold metal wall for another semblance of warmth._

_Her son had amethyst skin, a combination of her blue and her Pelor’s reddish tone. He was beautiful. But his cried seemed to never end and it was two days before they checked on her. She barely produced enough milk to feed him properly as she was gaunt around the ribs herself. Calus she would want for nothing. And yet she and her child were starving._

_It was two days before they recognized she had given birth. The human with the gold collar and the golden eyes came into her cell, a mask of stoicism and robotic movements. They called to her huddled in the corner, “Don’t be afraid. We come with glad tidings. Calus will raise this child to be a warrior and to want for nothing while in his care.”_

_Feyea hissed at the newcomer, “Stay away from me and my son.”_

_“You cannot keep him here. He is cold. And he is hungry.”_

_Feyea furrowed her brow against the cold stranger, who seemed to reflect no emotions in their gleaming metal eyes. They could protect him and feed him and give him what he needs. She needed to get stronger. She needed to be able to leave and protect him._

_It was five months later that she descended into the depths of the Menagerie, an auto rifle in her hands. There she found the hunt of the hive and of another…more powerful shadowed presence. It was there she met Galrhan and it's there that her story ended of her mortal life. Leaving her son behind._

_In an attempt to shower her respect for attempted to help him, Calus built her a mausoleum in the Gardens of the Palace. It was there that a Ghost found her._

_Another fifty-six years passed with her lifeless blue skin a faded grey, resting and watching the stars play with her son. At some point, she lost track of his whereabouts and she grieved for the loss she never got to say goodbye to._

_A Ghost by the name of Astra found and summoned her to the Tower. Away from Calus. Away from her destiny. And away from her son._

::: ::: :::

“I had a son,” Feyea whispered to the metal over Cayde’s desk. She stared at it like it could give her the answers she needed. The black, misshapen patch of sheet metal stayed quiet. She felt lost in her emotions, never once having this revelation from her previous memories. _She had a son._ She looked up to the curious and yet, cautious eyes of her mentor and her friend. His blue eyes and mouth pinched into a grimace before saying,

“There is no proof. For all you know, these could be false memories.”

“I know what I saw!” Feyea snarled, her fist colliding with the top of the desk, the ring echoing across the chamber. Cayde took half a step back as flames licked the edges of her cloak, an unintended side effect of whatever had happened to her. Her light seemed to leak from her every pore, invigorating her and making her burn at every emotion.

“You need to calm down. A whiskey?” He offered with a slight smirk on his face. The plates of his lips curled upwards and she sighed and resigned herself to a drink. Perhaps it’s what she needed to reset her nerves. Cayde poured from an old tankard and handed one cup to her. She raised an eyebrow at the lack of a cup in his hands. He shrugged, “Alcohol doesn’t agree with me.”

“Since when?” She chuckled.

“Since a colleague of mine decided to barge into my home at one in the morning to discuss some strange dream or possible rogue nightmare. Also…” He paused, the grin still over his mouth, “I work the early shift in the cosmodrome tomorrow.”

“You? Working early? Whose skirts have you tangled in to make sure you draw the short straw? You _hate_ morning shift.”

If the Exo could blush, she was sure he’d be blushing right now. The look he gave her was a mix of guilt and regret. His shoulders tightened and became more rigid as his facial expressions returned to one of stoicism.

“I do it to keep my team safe.” Cayde huffed, the hydraulic coils in his neck twitching slightly from the ribbing he just was given. It was only Feyea that could twist his gears like such and the only person who could get away with showing up at his home so late without a legitimate reason.

She whispered, like she was speaking more to the universe than to him, “I need to find him. I need to know what happened to him.”

“You are chasing a ghost!” Cayde said in exasperation, “You have no idea where to start looking. Even if you did, Calus is not one to toy with.”

“He came to me. He specifically requested my fireteam in the depths of the Menagerie.”

“Which apparently you’ve been to before.” Cayde folded his arms across his chest, “You’re not thinking clearly. He has gotten into your head and your heart.”

“I need to see him. Perhaps Benedict may be able to set up an inquiry with him.”

“No.” Cayde said, his tone speaking with finality, “You are barred from seeing his-royal-pain-in-the-ass. And you are certainly not allowed to chase unsanctioned missions.”

She stood and closed the gap between them, a hairs breath of space between them and she snarled, “You of all people I thought would understand about seeing their son again.”

Cayde’s eye plates widened at her accusation and her implication. “How dare you talk to me about my son.” He stood up to his full height and loomed over her. “You know nothing of what you speak of. Get out.”

She didn’t move for a moment. She searched his eyes, wondering what emotion could be held so deeply in those blue eyes. He took a step towards her and hissed, his faceplates hissing and whirring at the tone he was projecting, “If you want to throw away your titles for this ridiculous mission, by all means, run to Ikora. But you do not have my permission to bring your fireteam with you. You do this heresy alone.”

She recoiled as if he had hit her. And perhaps he had. The vanguard stood behind all its soldiers and gave them aid and support whenever needed. His retraction of that oath was a punch to the gut and it brought tears to her eyes.

“So, it seems I am alone then.” She gritted through her teeth, “So be it.” She left with a smoking cloak fluttering behind her as she jumped down from Cayde’s loft, her black form slithering away into the darkness of the night.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! It's been a while since I've uploaded and I'm not sure when I'll upload again due to working in healthcare at this time is a little scary. Hang in there guys! We can all get through this very scary time!


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